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Actually, considering Masato, if he wasn't that serious, he would have the usual smirk sprite. The same goes with Yuiko, but instead, she went with the side profile one.
The problem is really not the fact it wasn a chara sprite issue to begin with. In fact, The number of expressions is generally fine, it is more of an issue with the poses and CG.

^ It's a very low chance of triggering though. Not a weapon I went "Yes!" over when Riki got it.

And they have Masato use the serious sprites - not the one from the spoiler route mind, the one where his brows are knit and there's somewhat of an angry expression - during his self-ripostes, so go figure.

Yea, I really did not like how they changed Haruka's scene, but not only to how it pertains to Haruka but Riki as well. Not only do they make Haruka seem extra incosiderate, they also remove a chance to show off Riki as his own character. IMO the whole reason that this scene is funny is that Riki opens up the book, gets freaked out, but still chooses to let Haruka borrow it. The whole situation is hilarious and his position is easily relatable. His choice to not care and simply give it to her shows some personality and that he has a will of his own, so I think they really shaft Haruka and Riki in this scene.

I hope they show Riki nominating himself as Kuds' roommate, Some of the choices he makes really spice the general route up while giving his character more complexity.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Masato was particularly weird was well: checking the VN again, he was shown as downright annoyed after Kengo's setup, and even more with Yuiko's intervention, to the point he was getting serious at it. So seeing the muscle sensation and his pumped side there was off once again.

But like I said, my major gripe in ep3 was how Yuiko felt "plain mischevious" without really the kuudere side to it: past the slow "threats", she was shown "amused" during her fight with Masato, instead of plainly punish him for his foolishness (characterized with her cold profile pose in the VN).
So really, the differences are notable imho.

Spot on. Failure to portray the characters more accurately is what hurt this scene. None of the characters felt like they were acting "Naturally". It's like they were all making this big scene up for fun. (Not that they were, but in order for me to accept such a scene in the anime happening, it would have to be a "Job", if you know what I mean.) Masato should be pissed off but he's also acting facetious, Kurugaya should be retributive but she's dragging it out and trying to look cool. Just weird.

IMO the whole reason that this scene is funny is that Riki opens up the book, gets freaked out, but still chooses to let Haruka borrow it.

It should be noted that to my knowledge he never opened the dictionary in the vanilla game, no matter how much Haruka tried to make him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ceral

Masato should be pissed off but he's also acting facetious.

See my post above, Masato seemed to be still playing the fool during that scene. I guess it's a matter of different impressions. Though I have to ask - did they animate Kengo wearing the school uniform? That was a funny part, especially when it carried over to the battle rankings; nice detail.

No. Kengo was still wearing his Keiko-gi and Hakama. In fact, they put the scene in the cafeteria for some reason.
The weird part is that they made Kyousuke explains again the rules.

And I still think Masato was quite pissed off, considering the voice acting and how he expressed himself. The difference is obvious when you compare his reaction when Yuiko states that her katana may be a replica but it will hurt nevertheless: in the VN, he was "pumped" but in a very moody way, while in the anime, he was excited as if it was some cool stuff.
Also, in the VN, he asked if he could just pick the barrel with his fist and punch Yuiko with it: he meant business, he definitely wasn't having a fun time, except when he acted cool when he could parry Yuiko once.

What I also picked up though was that Yuiko was weirdly "enjoying" herself in the anime, swinging the katana erratically several times like a psychopath, whereas in the VN she basically made a flashstep, ignored Masato attacks twice, then did a single attack (parried by Masato), then a combo one (ignored by Masato as he was looking for the bluebeard) then went with the non weapon onslaught.

Wait wait, so that means they didn't show Haruka's prank? No wonder some people are wondering about her character portrayal. The dictionary scene (if you chose to lend it to her) wasn't enough to flesh her out at the outset; it's the subsequent late prank she pulls, coupled with the disciplinary committee taking her away, that I personally was able to go "Oh, so she's a prankster, huh?"

Spoiler for Haruka:

Here's hoping they animate....

OPPAI BOMB!!!

And my impression about Anego during her fight with Masato was "this girl is frigging dangerous". She presented a different, serious, more potent vibe than Masato in that time. In fact, it would not be until a scene in the introductory part of her route that I was shown that she could be higher degree scary, thus putting the first scene in perspective.

You should simply check it by yourself, because at this point, it is useless to describe every little scene if you don't see how it is executed.

Haruka had only 2 scenes so far, and that was: picking the dictionary, and giving it back, except they changed few things in a weird fashion. The primary problem is that Haruka didn't even ask for the dictionary and just snatched it out, and the way how she gave it back was more like a weird lecture than anything.

Yuiko's fight scene was indeed supposed to show how dangerous she can be when she got serious (although it is tame compared to when she is angry). However, there is a major difference: in the VN, she keeps her cool all the time and gives the impression of being lethal/straight to the point. No real murder intent, but close.
In the anime, it was more oriented into mockery and arrogance, and "sometimes" get quite carried away (such like when she slashes downward and Masato manages to parry that).
A complete different approach basically: whereas Yuiko wasn't doing useless moves once she is set in motion in the VN, she was plainly going wild in the anime.

So far I'm not super impressed with this show, so is this a source material problem or the studio is at fault?

If you don't like it, then it's best not to watch it anymore. There's a lot of things to do in life - enjoyable things even - and doing something which you don't like is a pain and ultimately a waste of time.

As for thoughts on the anime-visual novel transition, I point you to other users on this forum, as unlike them, I'm not going to spend time watching anime. So far, from my friends' reactions, impressions from the users on this forum and other forums, and most especially the Japanese fan reaction (which has a bigger base), it seems to be having a positive reaction. There are minor nitpicks but that's all part of the process. I quote a friend: "...chugging along nicely on the rails... 'next stop is... what route? What route? Next stop is...' *laughter* But it might be a trainwreck further down the line and no one knows yet~"

I'm not saying that I'm not impressed, I am impressed but not in the level that other Key shows had brought early on. However I'm trying to not keep that in mind since I prefer watching shows on its own merits.

I'll leave it at that because I can't and won't speak for your experience (It's your own unique one after all).

But if you were to ask a visual novel veteran like me - there's really no difference among the Key games in terms of style. To be more specific, Clannad, AIR, Kanon and Little Busters!, the "mainstream" games, all offered the same Key "vibe". A persistent air of mystery surrounding carefree, sometimes sugar sweet happy days, sprinkled with one of the best comedy in visual novel history. (This is further reinforced by the school life setting) It is then followed by a sucker punch, a low blow, a tragedy that bleeds your emotions and leaves you hanging, to be then followed by an eventual, resounding triumph. I mention the above games, because their other games for me did not offer the same vibe.

What makes Little Busters! unique is its specific emphasis on hijinks - after all, they are high schoolers. I remember my high school days long long ago and while I may not have been as innocent as the Little Busters, doing a lot of idiotic things that would make Masato blush, I knew it was all a part of high school life. There is particular emphasis on the pranks, the games, practicing for baseball, horsing around, the jokes, the girl and guy get-togethers. For folks who taste the vast gamut of anime, it might be off-putting perhaps. But it is what it is on the surface - friends being friends at school.

It should be noted that to my knowledge he never opened the dictionary in the vanilla game, no matter how much Haruka tried to make him.

See my post above, Masato seemed to be still playing the fool during that scene. I guess it's a matter of different impressions. Though I have to ask - did they animate Kengo wearing the school uniform? That was a funny part, especially when it carried over to the battle rankings; nice detail.

Yea, I was too lazy to look it up. I just remember him being suspicious and knowing something was up and that it made for good comedy. Guess I have to look it up now if you go as far to say he didn't open it. Ok, so he opens it enough to get a peak and freak out with a, "patan!" as he closes when Haruka comes back so that happens at least. Beforehand, he knows it's dangerous as it's in vinyl and been in Masato's desk mixed with food. So he knows it's not a good idea to lend it to her but does so anyway. I guess the anime didn't want to show him as a prankster but wanted to keep Haruka's introduction...

TBH I don't remember these scenes from the VN down to the last detail. I just remember the feelings and generally what happened. I got the feeling that the fight was more of a neccessary thing in order to subdue Masato in the VN. In the anime the whole thing just seemed silly in an uncool and lame way.

I kinda like this new Anego, of course her more cold side will be shown later. She is shown as kind of a misfit and a joker (as with the VN scene with Riki and the table), but she gets serious. We all know how she'll react later, so I guess that episode 3 for the Dorama to pick up is a bit early. She'll show her kuudere later on, worry not.

Uhh..I'm late to the thread and the mini-discussion about Komari, but have you guys forgotten "that" scene near the end?

And also the description about her: "sociable, easily, gets along with other people", right at the very start, as I remember from the visual novel. If she is indeed portrayed as her character should be, then there's no problem. In a way, she is Rin's polar opposite, and her personality thus runs in a tangent with Kudo's (this is why I suspect they had many common route scenes together). She should be outgoing, a little bit wise, clumsy, sweet, as "normal" a girl as visual novel conventions go.

Spoiler for The WHOLE of Little Busters! how could you guys forget:

"I just have one wish... that-"

Trust me I don't think anyone forgets that scene, we're practically reminded of it everytime we see Rin + Komari on the roof , which is in the OP and just about every advertisement. Well what I was arguing about, and I see the problem is growing even more, is there's a discrepancy between the VN and almost all of the girls so far introduced. It's not yet a big problem that's unsolvable, but this is what I was saying about Komari two weeks ago, she comes off very different in the anime, I see her as more of a spaz and a quirky girl than as you say,"outgoing, a little bit wise, clumsy, sweet, as "normal" a girl as visual novel conventions go.".

Nevermind whether she helps keep the group together or is more involved than the other girls. For the purpose of the argument (That portraying her differently will have a bigger impact later on.) just take the scenes that she is involved in, in only her own route, even if they keep the scenes the same, if they have her going into the climactic scenes in her own route and so far they've portrayed her so that her most dominant trait is that she's weird, instead of the traits you described, for better or for worse, (I'm thinking worse.) they'll give those scenes a very different flavor. And even for gags, or if they want to show her teaching Kud, they'd have to show off more of her other traits so that it feels more natural when they get to those scenes. Otherwise it won't make as much sense, maybe it'll be funnier though, who knows.

This goes for all characters now, in essence we're getting the same scenes, but so far there's already a few seemingly subtle changes, but are really a much bigger deal than they seem because they're altering our first impressions of the characters, their fundamental personality traits are a little different from the VN, and that might have a big impact later on in the more memorable and emotional scenes. By that time personality traits should already be established, and if they haven't done it accurately, unless you're going off on only nostalgia, there's going to be a big disconnect in the way these scenes feel. This is what I think is the most important impact of not depicting the characters the way they were meant to be, as in the VN.

I'm concerned on how they're are going to handle Masato in Refrain. Are they going to show both sides or are we only going to get Riki's side. I thought it was brilliant on how that part of the story was told. I had absolutely no idea wtf was going on, "why the hell is he so furious" I thought. Not going into detail about those events will seriously hurt Masato's character imo. Not to mention the just amazing tactics Riki and Rin execute.

I've noticed some people complaining about the abundance of fighting scenes in the anime. But I guess one thing people aren't realizing is that the battles are almost as important to the common route as the baseball practice. I guess that's J.C.'s fault for not adapting the battle rankings the same, but both of those minigames serve to strengthen the bond between the reader and the characters, by simply having fun.

Come to think of it, if I were an game veteran who's also watching this anime, I'd be watching the Komari route like a hawk, probably more than the other heroine routes. The simplicity for which I derided her route for was paid back like a crowbar to the head when "that" scene in the spoiler route showed up. In addition, a BGM which I treated as useless and throwaway (puzzled that they'd remix this heroine's theme when the others hadn't) as I played turned out to be very poignant in the end.

The problem is that the way how they are doing the battles do not compliment the characters at all: the recent ones arguably ridicule Masato to no end (albeit originally funny, it doesn't make Masato like a utter moron), but they are so badly animated it makes you wonder why they can't do stuff like Index/Railgun.
And so far, we are too few baseball practice, which is much more important than the battles imho.

Really, pulling battles in such fashion is just "meh". If there was actually a bit less of them but more meaningful in term of what is shown, sure. For instance, Yuiko's last for 4-6 minutes, which is basically 1/4 - 1/3 the damn episode.

Heck, I would have been fine if they just make it quick, or use the VN interface. But if they want to show one, at least they should do the work -properly-.

For instance, Kyoani reduced the number of times Sunohara was asskicked, but that was fairly enough to drive the point, and we got to see actual prowess from Tomoyo and Kyou. Here, we get a succession of badly directed, or even "clipshow" ones. (at least, they made it quick with Sasami & goons VS Rin).

Regarding Sasami. My guess is they just wanted to convey "these things happen between Rin and Sasami" to prepare the viewer for upcoming battles between those two. So far we've only seen one "infiltration" of the girl's dorm, and IIRC, there is always a battle with Rin vs Sasami. There is what? Like 4-5 of those infiltration events? I really don't expect them to animate all of them, that's just a big waste of time. It's kinda like how "Sunohara having his ass kicked" was reduced but still gave the message, "ah... so this always happens to him huh?"

However, I do expect them to animate the little confrontation between Rin and Sasami at the baseball field where Rin learns the "Raging Meow Ball" or whatever it was called. If that event is skipped and she suddenly is able to use that skill later on, that would be a big "wtf? when did she get so good?" moment. Likewise, the final battle between those two should be animated, I think it happens outside of the dorm in the evening? With Rin winning of course, to show how strong she has become. Just to round things up with them before Rin2/Refrain actually starts.

So, as I was reading comments for the 3rd episode on a streaming site, someone pointed out something in the background at 20:07. Looks like we're gonna see more of that, though I have my doubts that she will ever be more than a cameo.

I seriously doubt they will have time for the Saya Route. Then again it could also be done in an OVA or something along with the other two EX girls.